


Burn Out Bright

by sk8rpssockpup (MissIzzy)



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Id Fic, M/M, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-30
Updated: 2009-01-30
Packaged: 2017-12-27 07:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/976214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissIzzy/pseuds/sk8rpssockpup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After 2009 Nationals, a trip to Switzerland changes everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burn Out Bright

**Author's Note:**

> This was written completely as comfort fic following the heartbreak that was 2009 Nationals, with the main priority being to cheer everyone up. Proceed accordingly.

After Nationals, there should have been some crashing. There should have been some days off in which Johnny probably would have laid in bed feeling sorry for himself, or wandered aimlessly around New York. Only the strictest, craziest coaches in the world would have denied this simple fact, and Galina wasn't quite that. On the contrary, Johnny thought, she would have been happier if they could have been absolutely certain that Johnny's season was now over, because that meant they would not only take a rest for a couple of days or maybe even a week or so, but after that, they could have started working one hundred percent for next season only. Nice and simple.  
  
But there was that bane of the skating schedule known as Four Continents, and Johnny really couldn't turn it down if two men dropped out, which was all too possible, simply because it was Four Continents and people tended not to go. He was tempted to say he would turn it down, if only because he doubted he'd do very well there, but he knew, ultimately, that he wouldn't be able to bring himself to turn down what could be the only competition he had with which to redeem the year.  
  
So they returned to New Jersey and it was back to the ice and back to work. The next week was one of the worst of Johnny's life. By the time it was over, he'd was absolutely convinced he wanted to retire, to the point that he told Galina so.  
  
She shook her head, and said, "Take next veek off."  
  
"The big thing isn't even Worlds, though," Johnny said to Stephane over the phone that night. "I mean, it will be if someone gets injured, but it's not the thing I'm mostly likely to go to. Apparently before we left Cleveland, someone in the USFSA dropped a hint to Galina that they were very likely to send me to the new team event in Japan in April, though of course they can't say anything official until the US has qualified, but they're pretty sure we will. So I definitely have to keep the programs in ready form, though I know Galina would much rather we didn't waste any more time with them."  
  
"You can have a week," said Stephane. "And you can make very good use of a week."  
  
"How?" asked Johnny. "I mean, right now, I just don't feel like doing anything. I'm just so depressed. I suppose I could go home and see my family."  
  
"Yes, you could," said Stephane, "but I kind of hope you might want to do something else."  
  
"Really, what?"  
  
"Well," said Stephane, "I am, right now, loading up an airline website, and would buy a ticket for you to come to Lausanne. You could come watch me skate there and in Davos later in the week, and we could spend time together. I'll pay for it; I have a lot of money now.  _Je veux te voir,_  Johnny."  
  
"I want to see you, too," said Johnny. That had been one of the most painful things of the past few months; having Stephane there, thinking he'd have him there for good, and then losing him to his injury. " _Oui, achetes le billet_."  
  
***  
  
The time between that phone call and landing at Lausanne airport was a whirlwind; their mutual desire to be together as soon as possible meant Johnny had bare hours to pack for the week before he was lugging his bags to JFK. He spent most of the flight staring at the electronic flight map, letting it sink in that he was going to see Stephane, they were going to be together for a whole week, he was only five hours away, then four, then three, then two...  
  
At last he was gathering his bags, noting with relief they'd all gotten there, getting through immigration and customs, and he found Stephane waiting for him. He took Johnny's hand and one of his bags in a perfectly friendly manner, and said, "It is good to see you, Johnny. I am glad you came." His eyes said everything else.  
  
They made small talk all through the airport and even the drive to Stephane's home.  _"Ma famille est sortie. Vous poulez présenter ce soir."_  Johnny was relieved to hear that; it would be nerve-wracking enough meeting Stephane's family without having to do so immediately.

Instead, once they and Johnny's bags were inside the deserted house Stephane pressed Johnny up against the back of the front door and Johnny groaned as their mouths and bodies met. Oh God, he'd missed this. His legs lifted up off the floor as he ground into Stephane's body, trying to get closer, get more contact.  
  
 _"Mon dieu, trop mince,"_  Stephane murmured between kisses, his hands fumbling over Johnny's hips, his sides, not used to the drop in weight.  _"Trop malade."_  
  
"Not now," Johnny whispered back. "I'm better now."  
  
Stephane looked at him sadly,  _"Non, tu n'es pas. Oh, Johnny..."_   When he kissed him again, it was frustratingly softly and carefully. Johnny grabbed his head and shoved his tongue into Stephane's mouth relentlessly, making him moan.  
  
He pressed against Stephane's dick; it was wonderfully hard.  _"Baise-moi,"_  he hissed between their mouths, then kissed hard again as Stephane hoisted him up further and moved away from the door, carrying him to his bedroom.  
  
***  
  
Johnny wasn't sure whether Stephane's family came back earlier than expected, or if he and Stephane just spent that long in bed, alternating sex with kissing and cuddling and talking. Either way, his first meeting with Stephane's mother ended up being when she opened his bedroom door on them with a,  _"Stephane, nous-oh!"_  And the door hastily slammed. "Come out when you are dressed!" she called through it.  
  
"We should have locked the door," Johnny giggled. "Couldn't have either one of us leaving this bed even for a moment, could you?" Stephane had turned completely red.  
  
His mother looked embarrassed, too, when they finally emerged looking very rumpled, and Johnny felt awkward himself, with Stephane's entire family standing there expectantly. "And this is Johnny Weir?" his sister asked.  
  
"Yes," said Stephane. "This is Johnny. Johnny, this is my father, mother, my sister Silvia, and my brother Christophe."  
  
They were all perfectly friendly. Silvia even talked about how much she liked his skating, and how heartbroken she was he didn't make Worlds, and he could tell she meant it. "They should send you," she said. "Who is Brandon Mroz? I never hear his name! But they send him and they not send you?"  
  
Johnny shrugged. "He skated pretty well."  
  
Mrs. Lambiel seemed to see his eyes darken, for she said, "Stephane, help me with dinner. Come, all of us." She gestured towards the front of the house.  
  
***  
  
The most uncomfortable part of the evening ended up being waiting for dinner to be served. Before this, Johnny had been proud of his French, proud that he could listen and respond to Stephane in his native language, though he now thought it felt like there was more French in their conversations than there actually had been. Now, he started to think Stephane had made it easier for him by speaking just a little slower. Stephane's father and siblings started talking away to each other so quickly Johnny honestly wondered how they could understand each other and leave him sitting there, not sure if they thought he understood them or not. He wished he knew more about Stephane's family, that he'd tried to learn more, that he hadn't been so self-centered for once. By the time Stephane came back in to announce dinner was served, Johnny had decided to apologize to him for that once they were alone again.  
  
Johnny was seated between Stephane and his mother, and within five minutes he was certain this was so they could both continually urge him to eat. Johnny did feel hungry, and for the first time since Nationals, but it was always hard to eat now; there was always the fear he wouldn't be able to stop eating, that he would end up fat and ugly and unable to skate, to the point that sometimes his throat closed up and he couldn't eat. That didn't happen tonight, but it was still hard.  
  
Johnny did indeed apologize when he and Stephane retired back to the latter's bedroom, but Stephane placed a finger over his lips.  _"Pas maintenant,"_  he said, and kissed Johnny, and caressed him so tenderly, and one would've thought after this afternoon they would've been fucked out, but apparently not.  
  
***  
  
Monday and Tuesday Johnny sat unnoticed in the back of the audience and watched Stephane perform as the star of  _Art on Ice_ , and longed to be down there with him. He wondered why anyone competed for gold, when they could spend their time doing shows instead, where you didn't have to worry about earning points so the art could come first, and if you popped a jump, well, it didn't really matter in the long run. Stephane would never have to do a triple axel again if he didn't want to, something which he was openly pleased about. He'd already taken advantage of this unique opportunity to tell Johnny how terrible a jump it was anyway, and he didn't know how Johnny did it so well usually, and it was ridiculous to condemn him for popping it on two paltry occasions, when it was so amazing he did it fine the rest of the time. But then he'd seen how depressed that had made Johnny again, so it he hadn't mentioned it since.  
  
Most of the other skaters in the show had also been to see Johnny, and they'd all been sympathetic. Aliona Savchenko described his situation as an "awful nightmare," Massimo Scali talked about the terror of being passed in the rankings within your own country; apparently he and his partner had felt threatened earlier this year, which Johnny didn't get, but then again, he really didn't follow ice dancing that closely. Shizuka actually made him feel a little better, by reminding him what an awful time she'd had before she'd gone and won the Olympics, but as they'd both had to note, at least she'd made Worlds.   
  
Oddly enough, it was Emanuel Sandhu's company he enjoyed the most, because he realized quickly enough that Johnny didn't want people talking about how terribly things had just gone for him, or maybe he just didn't want to spend time being sympathetic, so he talked about watching the World's final the previous year and how much Jeff's winning and everything else that had happened made him laugh, and then spent the rest of the time making it all about himself: his singing career, his being on So You Think You Can Dance(and how outrageous it was he hadn't made the top twenty), the shows he'd skated in. Johnny also enjoyed seeing Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev; who he'd once known a little bit, since they'd been training alongside Tanith and Ben back when he and Tanith had been really close. But now he got to know them for their own sake, and it always good have new Russian friends, and he liked Naomi too.  
  
***  
  
Johnny had already decided he wanted his visit to Switzerland not to be noticed by the media if possible, partly for discretion's sake but mostly because he simply did not want the attention at the moment. He'd even sent his documentary people away; they'd wanted to be able to go fully into post-production anyway. During the journey to Davos that became more difficult; he had to travel ahead of Stephane, and wander around the city keeping himself occupied, an even harder task since most people spoke German here, and he really didn't know much German, and slip up to Stephane's hotel room after he'd checked into it. By this time in the week they'd had so much sex they'd exhausted themselves sexually, or at least Johnny had; one thing he had learned during those five weeks they'd been training together back in the summer was that Stephane, as far as he could tell, never got sexed out. It was kind of strange. Also kind of uncomfortable on occasions, but tonight it seemed okay. They watched some of the hotel TV with Stephane translating what everyone was saying for Johnny until his mind grew tired and they turned the TV off and got into bed together.  _"Ca va?"_  Stephane asked softly.  
  
 _"Ca va?"_  repeated Johnny, laughing in disbelief. "Stephane, I'm the happiest I've been in months. I wish life could always be like this."  
  
 _"Moi aussi. J'aimerais être toujours avec toi."  
  
"Et nous presque l'avons._ We nearly had it." He closed his eyes. "Sometimes I wonder how much I would miss it, if I stopped competing. If I just stayed here and we got about the business of spending our lives together...but I don't know if I can bear to walk away now."  
  
He felt Stephane pull away, felt the bed shift from the loss of his weight. He opened his eyes and saw Stephane standing there, tense, looking away. He walked to the wall and Johnny saw his fists clench.  
  
"Stephane?" Johnny asked, alarmed.  _"Je dis quelque chose mal?"_  He tried to think of anything he could have said to make Stephane angry. Maybe he was still upset about having to retire? Maybe he was mad at Johnny thinking of throwing his chance away?  
  
Then Stephane turned and there was the most intense love in his eyes Johnny had ever seen, and he strode back to the bed and dropped on one knee before it.  _"M'épouses."_  
  
"What?" Johnny pulled himself up in shock. "Stephane, did you just ask what I think you just asked?"  
  
 _"Oui,"_  said Stephane. "I marry-I want to marry you, Johnny. Now. This week."  
  
Johnny shook his head. "I can't....don't think that I don't... _je veux_..."  
  
"Then you do want to continue," said Stephane. "If you want retire, you say yes already. But Johnny,  _tu pourrais être accepté dans L'Olympiques, ton dos pourrait être blessé, où tout peut arriver..."_  
  
"I know it's uncertain," Johnny cut him off. "But you're right, I think, I have to try."  
  
"But this!" Stephane seized Johnny's hand and pulled it to his heart. "This you can have, for certain! If you win or if you lose next year, you will still have me, if you say yes! Please, Johnny, I think this so long, please,  _dis oui!"_  
  
"Yes," said Johnny, his voice shaking. " _Oui,_  yes,  _oui,_  yes,  _oui, oui,_  yes!" He had Stephane in his arms, he was talking through kisses, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt such joy.  
  
***  
  
It remained their secret for the first part of the next morning while they talked about when to tell their families, taking the time zones into account; they nearly called Johnny's family as soon as they woke up, before remembering that it was very late at night on the east coast. But before they came to a decision, they got an invitation from Tomas Verner to eat breakfast with him, and Stephane ended up letting it slip fairly early on in the meal. Tomas was stunned, but congratulated them warmly enough and promised to keep it to himself for the time being. "Carolina will be angry forever if anyone tells her besides you," he told Stephane.   
  
He asked, of course, how they were going to get away with this. "We don't know if we will," said Johnny. "But when I consider my career at this point, it just doesn't seem worth complying with this rule anymore; it honestly doesn't. If it comes out and kills my scores, then I'll just go and that'll be that. It might not anyway; Rudy Galindo survived. More or less. We're counting on doing as little paperwork as possible and just being ignored."  
  
"But Canada," said Tomas. "You will be married in Canada."  
  
"Yes," said Johnny, grinning, "we will." Not to mention civil unionized in both New Jersey and Switzerland, but that never carried the same emotional impact.  
  
Most of their conversation ended up being about Carolina, how she was losing after losing Europeans, how she kind of wished she was here, what messages from Stephane Tomas should bring back to her. But Tomas also took a moment to urge Johnny to see a sports psychologist. "I only start with one, and it help, it really help," he said.  
  
"I don't know if I could even bring myself to talk to one," replied Johnny sadly.  
  
They finally told their families late that morning, waking Johnny's up a little early, but they didn't really mind. They, too, were completely shocked, and Patti asked him if he was absolutely sure of what he was doing. "I am, mom, I promise," he assured her. "I'm through with being a complete and utter good boy. All that got me was off the World team. Now I want to be happy again."  
  
***  
  
Johnny was positively giddy watching the  _American Dream_  show. Every time he thought he was calming down, he saw or thought of Stephane down there, and thought  _My fiancee. I'm watching my fiancee's show and as soon as it's over I'm going to marry him_  and got all excited again. It felt like he was living in some strange dream. After the second show the cast gathered to give them a send-off toast, which Tomas afterward revealed he'd arranged. "Since it seems you'll be holding the wedding itself without any of us."  
  
"We'll hold a big ceremony next year, after the Olympics," said Johnny. "But for now we're trying to get this done quickly and quietly."  
  
Saturday morning they boarded a plane to Hartford, Connecticut as Paris, Galina, Nina, and Viktoria drove up from New Jersey, and that afternoon with their four witnesses they were married by a justice of the peace. Paris cried. Viktoria threw flowers on everyone. Nina took pictures. Then they dined out, and Paris tried to give a toast while drunk, which wasn't very comprehensible but was very funny, while Viktoria stood up and talked about what a wonderful friend Stephane had been to her during the summer.  
  
The events of the past week finally sunk in the next morning, when Johnny woke up next to Stephane in the bridal suite of a Hartford hotel. Hands trembling, he touched his smiling face while whispering, "My husband. This man in my husband." Then Stephane woke up and there was such a look on unabashed adoration in his eyes, and Johnny was filled with so much feeling much it was hard to breathe, he thought he might die.  
  
They made love one last time, but now they had to hurry, because Stephane had to catch another plane, to fly back to Switzerland and do the  _Art on Ice_  show in St. Moritz. He would be back late in March, he had promised, since he hoped to start acting school in New York in the fall. Johnny couldn't go with him to the airport; the most he could do was kiss him long and hard at the door to the bridal suite before letting him go.  
  
They spent most of the day driving back to New Jersey. As Paris' car drove out of the Lincoln Tunnel, Paris sighed and said, "And there goes your marriage. The technical controller of New Jersey has downgraded it to a civil union. Though at least the court's told them to change the regulations at some point."  
  
***  
  
On Monday he returned to the rink, and he and Galina assessed his current state and ran through the programs. Physically he was continuing to improve and emotionally he was transformed, but the he was starting to think he might be permanently scarred when it came to that short program; he couldn't get a clean run-through.   
  
So it continued for the rest of the week, while off the ice they talked, and Galina continued to feed him. She seemed more concerned, now, for his general health than his skating; she badgered him about how much coffee he was drinking and how tired he was until his answers grew short and frustrated, which of course she didn't have the patience for, so that was when the real interrogation began.  
  
Near the end of the second week they talked about the programs, and the short program in particular. Galina suggested he try a run-through of  _Yunona i Avos_  again. It took some concentration for Johnny to remember it; it was probably the dullest and slowest version of it he'd ever done, but technically he did the whole thing clean, and the two of them agreed: if Johnny did go to Worlds he would use it there, and if he went to the World Team Trophy they'd see if he could do the short program portion of the competition. It was a deeply appropriate program for him to be running through at the moment, too.  
  
He didn't have nearly as much contact with Stephane, or his mother, or anyone else for that matter, as he would have liked; he usually got home very late and could only do a few quick phone calls before bed. So it wasn't until the second Sunday after their marriage that he and Stephane were able to give each other a full account of the past two weeks.  
  
And Stephane didn't give much of one, because he promptly started demanding how much Johnny was eating as well, and panicking about Johnny's long-term health. That left Johnny very crabby. Was noone going to leave him alone?  
  
***  
  
His documentary aired at the beginning of March and it was a good thing they'd changed the title, Johnny supposed, since it ended with he the black swan falling again. Though there might have been something tragically poetic about that. He hadn't yet talked with anyone about the possible TV series; everyone was waiting to see how they did in the ratings. He supposed it might be a more interesting time, though, since of course they weren't going to reveal his marriage to Stephane; he'd get that written into the contract if necessary, that they had to edit all evidence of that out.  
  
In truth, he was a little relieved when he got a phone call a week later saying there wasn't going to be a TV series, or at least none until the fall. They might do a  _Ice Diaries_ -type miniseries focusing on his build-up to the Olympics, but that was all.  
  
Maybe the ratings had been low, but that hadn't been the fault of the figure skating community. It took some time for it to be passed around to those who didn't get the Sundance Channel, and even more time to reach those who couldn't watch Region 1 DVDs, but by mid-March everyone had seen it, it seemed, and everyone emailed him to express their opinions. Yu-Na wrote him a short email to say she thought it was silly. Ashley Wagner wrote him a long email to tell him how fascinating she'd found it. Tanith wrote him a cheeky commentary that nearly made Johnny fall over laughing when he read it.  
  
However, the biggest thing anyone wrote was written by several people in North America, including Evan, Jeff Buttle, and Rachael Flatt. Each told him there were rumors in their area that he and Stephane had secretly married either just before Nationals, just after Nationals, or at the end of February; according to Rachael ten versions of the story were going around Colorado Springs with everyone insisting their version had to be true. Noone who wrote to him claimed to believe it, though. Evan spent a whole paragraph talking about how silly an idea it was. From Europe, on the other hand, came numerous more straight-forward congratulations; they had a more factual account over there.  
  
He wrote back to a handful of people to tell them that it actually was true: Melissa and Denis, Priscilla, Elene, Yu-Na, Alexandra and Roman. He apologized for not telling them before, assured them there would be a bigger ceremony later, and asked that they not spread it further. "I'm not sure when I'll be telling everyone," he wrote. "For now I'm enjoying the secret."  
  
***  
  
Johnny hadn't been sure whether or not he wanted to watch Worlds, especially since most of it seemed to be on some obscure NBC subnetwork that he wasn't even sure he got. Thankfully the question was answered for him when Stephane chose that week to move in.  
  
Once it had become clear that noone was going to withdraw practices had eased up a bit, especially since they had now dumped the long program completely, but it was still an exhausting week, especially as Stephane's things arrived before Johnny's husband himself did, and he and Paris had to drag them in, and Paris' things out, as Paris had wisely elected to move in with his new boyfriend. Stephane himself arrived on Friday, and he and Johnny even had a session together on the ice that day, which was very cheerful, if a bit distracting, since it was only hours after their reunion and all Johnny really wanted to do was lock himself and Stephane into his bedroom for several hours so they could greet each other properly.  
  
That had to wait, though, since there were a million other things that Stephane had to do and Paris and Johnny continued to work on the moving business. All through Saturday people ran from place to place, between ice sessions in Johnny's case, until at last he and Stephane rested alone together, too tired to do more than fumble with each other.  
  
The next morning they made love, then thought to check the results for Worlds, and Johnny was deeply sorry to see Evan had finished out of the top ten. A quick look at his protocols showed why; he'd had jumps downgraded all over the place. At least Brandon Mroz had made it into the top ten, but it was a good thing Jeremy had medaled. That evening they tuned into NBC for the Ladies Final, and Johnny cheered madly when Yu-Na won. Stephane laughed and asked if he would be skating with her this summer. "Probably," said Johnny. "She already wants me for  _Festa on Ice,_  and she says you'd better make it, too, this year."  
  
***  
  
Johnny might not have been able to go to Worlds, but when the points were tabulated and the US announced as qualifying for the World Team Trophy, sure enough, he was named for the men's side, along with Evan. A couple of phone calls soon had him assured of doing his short program, and his training picked its pace back up.  
  
Before Stephane's arrival, Johnny had foolishly assumed that his husband would be part of his non-skating life now, at least for the most part; he might see him at the rink now and then, but he would be doing his own thing there, and other than that he would just come home to him and be able to forget about the day. He knew Stephane would probably force him to eat more, but by now he'd resigned himself to dealing with that.  
  
But Stephane viewed himself as a valuable addition to Johnny's team. His main role, in his view, was Johnny's basic health and well-being, which in his opinion had been grossly neglected throughout his entire career. Johnny first learned this Monday afternoon, when he got the rink to find Stephane having a heated argument with Galina, in Russian; Johnny had never heard him speak it so well either; he had to have been studying lately. The way Galina looked at him pointedly on his arrival made him first check his watch to make sure he wasn't late, and then blurt out, "Whatever's he's doing, I had nothing to do with it!"  
  
Galina considered, then shrugged and said, "I believe you."  
  
Soon Johnny discovered that since Stephane had married him, and was recognized here as his civil partner, he'd managed to obtain his medical records, and was currently poring over them. Before Johnny knew it Stephane was explaining what he thought were the causes of all of Johnny's illnesses, as well as his foot and back problems. He was designing a completely new regimen, to be implemented after the Team Trophy and their subsequent honeymoon.  
  
***  
  
The American team in Japan ended up all learning about his marriage during one of the early briefings, thanks to Carolina. As soon as the Italian team came in she ran over and hugged him, crying, "Oh, Johnny! I am so happy for Stephane and you!"  
  
"You are?" asked Tanith softly. "Now why would that be?"  
  
Carolina looks at her in confusion. "Do you not know?"   
  
"We don't know anything," said Tanith, "though I have heard some interesting rumors of late." She glanced around the room. The Canadian and French teams had arrived; the ISU officials, thankfully, had not. Not all the members of the other two teams were paying attention to them, but Brian Joubert and a couple of women with him were watching with amusement, and Jeff Buttle, who was accompanying the Canadian skaters, was watching too. "Is this there anything you forgot to tell us, Johnny?"  
  
Carolina looked guilty. "I am so sorry, Johnny. I think they knew."  
  
"It's fine," he assured her. "You can't really keep a secret like this for too long. He turned towards the American skaters and handful of coaches, including Priscilla, who at least knew already, and, he mentally flinched, two USFSA officials, and said, "It's something we're being very quiet about for obvious reasons, but Stephane and I have been married since just after Nationals."  
  
"What?" There were several loud reactions which brought the room's attention to them. Johnny felt the urge to flee.  
  
"Well," said Ashley Wagner, dazed, "that's one way to cheer yourself up after a bad Nationals."   
  
***  
  
That night he got a call from Tara. "The way you two are going," she told him, "this is going to be an open secret by the Olympics. It might still be within the skating community for now, but at the very least, by next February, everyone watching you is going to know you and Stephane are a couple, even if they don't know you're married, and they'll be hearing stories about that, too, probably. Though avoid confirming it in public and maybe your career will survive."  
  
After that, he got a visit from Tanith, whose first subject was strictly business. "It's up to you to win this thing for us," she said.  
  
"Me?" asked Johnny. "Won't the judges be mad at me?"  
  
"We have to hope not. The way I figure it, this is between us and Canada. Italy sort of has the men, ladies, and ice dance, but when they don't have the pairs that's not going to be nearly enough. Japan has the singles but not the couples; Russia has the couples but not the singles, not really. France has the men and the ice dance, but not the ladies or pairs. The US and Canada are the only country that don't have an outrageous weakness in one or more of the disciplines.  
  
So Ben and I will try to get as much as possible over Scott and Tessa, but they just might beat us, and either way, there won't be much difference in the scores, two or three points tops. The ladies I have no idea what's going to happen; Phaneuf won't do much, but Rochette will probably leave both Ashley and Caroline in the dust, and if one of them skates badly, they might not be able to pull out too much of a lead together. Meanwhile, Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison are going to pull a huge lead over Caydee and Jeremy, and it's up to you and Evan to make the difference up.  
  
You two are lucky that Patrick Chan chose not to come, and you will definitely outscore Chipeur and Ten. But meanwhile, I'm sure you noticed Evan's placement at Worlds-you know, I really wish he was doing the short and you were doing the long, and then he'd have less jumps to underrotate. So it's up to you. You need to finally skate that short program clean."  
  
"I'm not doing this year's short program; I'm doing last years."  
  
"Really?  _Good."_  She looked very relieved. "Now that that's out of the way, I don't suppose you'll tell me more about your wedding?"  
  
***  
  
When Johnny went out onto the ice, he heard the screams of fans and saw the banners; as many, probably, as even the Japanese skaters had. This didn't change, he thought. Certainly not due to a bad Nationals, anyway.   
  
He thought of Stephane, watching with Paris and his techno-wiz boyfriend who could project IceNetwork up onto a bigger screen. He thought of the long months they'd been restricted to phone calls and seeing each other for only a few hours at a time. He thought of the pain of losing him, having watched for five weeks as he fought a desperate war against his body, and the grim night when he had told Johnny that he had lost. He thought of November and December and January, competing without him, knowing he was part of a system that had destroyed him, the virulent hatred and loneliness that had played as much of a part as what had happened in Cleveland as anything.  
  
He assumed his opening position and let it all go.  
  
The program came easily enough. It felt like going back in time, back to last year's Worlds, back to the Grand Prix, back, even, to the team event where he had first debuted this program, making it appropriate enought that he perform it one last time here.  
  
Several people hugged him in the kiss and cry, and he broke 82(did this competition count towards personal bests?), but there were still most of the men and all of the ladies still to skate.  
  
In the end it was far more Ashley than anyone else who won the thing for them. Wearing an atrocious costume and an expression that could probably kill dead anyone within five feet of her, she skated the performance of the evening. Johnny rose with the rest of the arena to give her a standing ovation, and was happy to see Priscilla looking so thrilled. It was a crime that her score was still lower than Rochette's, but when the total came up safely over Canada's, in first place with only Yukari Nakano left to skate and lacking a prayer of catching Japan up, the Americans cheered wildly. Johnny actually found himself shaking hands with Evan, before Tanith smooched her boyfriend on the cheek-which seemed to make him uncomfortable-and yelled at the two of them, "You did it! You did it!"  
  
It was even funnier when Ashley abruptly screamed at the camera, "I HATE KUNG-FU!" When several people looked at her, she shrugged and said, "Never play poker against Mirai Nagasu. Ever."  
  
So Johnny finished the season standing and listening to the Star-Spangled Banner with gold around his neck after all, even if it wasn't at the competition he'd been planning for it to be at.

***

At the gala he skated to "Unchained Melody." He did this because he'd been planning to at Nationals and hadn't gotten to, but when he got off the ice everyone was looking at him knowingly. Within a week or so, he knew, everyone in the figure skating community would know for a fact that he was married. He found it didn't bother him too much anymore.   
  
He sat down backstage to watch the rest of the men and the ladies and wait for the finale, when Jeff came and sat next to him. "I would just to say," he said quietly, "how much I admire the guts and you and Stephane have."  
  
"Really?" Johnny asked, surprised. "I thought you and Chris were engaged."  
  
"Engaged, yes," replied Jeff, "but only that, engaged, with no clear date set. And I don't know when we'll do it. It might be years."  
  
"Well," pointed out Johnny, "he's currently in a cruise ship somewhere around Spain right now anyway, isn't he?"  
  
"You and Stephane did it before he moved to New Jersey, though, right? You said shortly after your Nationals. Really, Chris and I could've probably managed it just before he left. But we didn't have the nerve. Not even when neither of us is competing anymore. I think this is especially brave of you, to do this while you're still competing. I think it'll do a lot of good. And that's why I want to offer my help for your final season. If you need someone to help with your choreography, or just for that little bit more emotional support, I'm with you." He offered his hand.  
  
Moved, Johnny took it. "Thanks," he said, "though I don't know if I have anything for you to do."  
  
***  
  
After the team competition, Johnny finally went home for a week and brought Stephane with him, the first time his father and brother had met him, as far as anyone could remember. Things between the three of them went okay; Brian teased him for crying too much, but they both seemed able to like Stephane and Stephane them.  
  
Things between Stephane and Patti, meanwhile, might have gone too well. Of course they'd known each other already, but now they really bonded over mutual continuing concern for Johnny's health. They spent hours talking over Johnny's childhood and the particulars of his insomnia, which Stephane also wanted to address; wearing Johnny out with sex actually did reduce its effectiveness, but didn't get rid of it entirely. It was useless for Johnny to point out that with Stephane's groin bothering him again he wasn't the one they should be worrying about.  
  
Between both of their health problems, they ended up taking their honeymoon for two days in Saratoga Springs, bathing in mineral water and getting massaged together. They also took in a show at the park and went to the dance museum. In the evenings before they made love, Stephane talked about the future he hoped for in the theater and left Johnny glad the conversation wasn't about his skating.  
  
There was time enough for skating on their return, when they had to get back into shape for  _Festa on Ice._  Stephane was finishing up a new program, while Johnny just prepared to do "Ave Maria" one last time. He also mentioned Jeff's offer, and Galina told him she'd consider it, which he left her to do.  
  
In Korea, he and Yu-Na did indeed perform their third duet together, but she commented it was different, now that he was married. "It will be even more different when the audience knows," she added.  
  
"There are plenty of people who skate together where one or both of them are married to someone else," he replied, "but I see your point."  
  
Of course, it wasn't as if most of the people in the audience didn't already know the root of it, he thought, as they bowed afterwards and tried not to go deaf from the screams. Even if he'd never confirmed it, they knew, just like they would likely know about Stephane by the end.  
  
***  
  
Stephane ended up listed on Johnny's website as his "health consultant" simply because it would have been monstrous to give him absolutely no credit for all his contributions. Besides, he was known to be in New Jersey for his own reasons; what could be so surprising about his lending an old friend and training mate a hand? By June he was considered such a trusted member of the team he was allowed to supervise Johnny's new exercise regimen without anyone else watching. Which Johnny was deeply grateful for, since it was kind of embarrassing the way Stephane argued and wheedled and guilted him into it. He wasn't sure this was entirely appropriate for a married couple, but, then again, this was time-honored tradition among Russian skaters; two of their last three Olympic golds had involved a coach sleeping with his student, and Viktor even claimed to him that Nina had once done something not dissimilar to him, and after they'd gotten together.  
  
Stephane argued until Johnny submitted, and Stephane had his way. He had his way even more once the Grand Prix assignments were announced: Paris and Russia for Johnny. Normally he would have liked that, even with their being back to back, but now they were both taking place in October. Suddenly Johnny's programs had to be done as quickly as possible, he had to start work on his quad again, and everyone around him had only one word: endurance, endurance, endurance. There was even talk he should pull out of  _Dreams on Ice,_  stopped only by his insistence that he needed the money; Stephane was helping with that now, but it wasn't enough, especially since he was about to go to school full time.  
  
The money issue was also the reason that when he was approached by producers of the Oxygen Network to participate in the second edition of  _Ice Diaries_  as part of NBC's Olympic build-up, at Champs Camp, of all places, he gave an informal agreement, though there was no contract to sign yet; that would have to wait until the negotiation for the rights was concluded. They had come to Colorado Springs to search for prospective skaters for the series; they had an idea, now, of covering six skaters from all four disciplines.  
  
Nina was with him when he got the offer; he left her to discuss it with Galina while he himself called Stephane. "Nothing's signed," he assured him, "and I won't sign anything if you don't want this."  
  
But Stephane actually liked the idea; he was sure those editing the series would be discreet, leaving this as a safe way for them both to enjoy the spotlight. When Galina, too, gave her consent it was agreed they would go ahead with it.  
  
***  
  
At first, with the need to get the programs done as quickly as possible, it was assumed Nina would just do them. But a week after they started Nina and Galina abruptly got into a very quiet argument in the middle of a session, the exact nature of Johnny was unable to figure out, if only because Viktor, apparently decided he shouldn't be listening, took his arm and skated with him to the far side of the rink, and as the two women hissed by the boards Viktor drilled Johnny through his spins. They did no more choreography that day.   
  
The next day Stephane came in with Johnny, who had, on Galina's request, also called Jeff. He'd ended up leaving a message on Jeff's phone explaining that if Jeff wanted to give that help he'd offered back April, he needed to come down as quickly as possible. He thoroughly expected for Jeff to say he couldn't, and even said so on the message, but that afternoon Jeff called back and said he could be in New Jersey in two days.  
  
Once everyone was there the choreography became a process of Johnny skating around to the music while Nina, Stephane, and Jeff bounced movements and element placements off of each other, with occasional contributions from Galina and Viktor. It took a little longer than Galina had wanted, but in the end Johnny had his two programs, and they were ones he felt good about. Jeff also offered to come back in September and make him a new exhibition number. It was clear that he and Stephane had enjoyed themselves working on Johnny together, much more than anyone else had enjoyed the process. He finished off by inviting the two of them to his and Chris' wedding, to take place the following summer.  
  
Nina and Jeff were given the official credit, which Johnny thought was kind of sad.  
  
***  
  
About a week before Stephane started classes he and Johnny had a blow-up. By then his constant pushing on Johnny's training was straining their personal relationship, and Stephane was getting frustrated at Johnny's still disliking it. Johnny yelled at him he didn't marry him to just get another Galina in his home, Stephane cried that he had made all the decisions in his life over the past half a year to suit Johnny's needs and Johnny should appreciate that.  
  
Finally Stephane ran out of the room in tears, and Johnny sat on the sofa crying for more time than he could keep track of, before Stephane came back in, and Johnny asked through his tears, "Are you sorry you married me?"  
  
 _"Non! Jamais!"_  Stephane's wiped tears from Johnny's eyes, then took his hands and kissed them.  _"Mais peut-être je devrais_...maybe I should not work with your skating now."  
  
"Yes," Johnny nodded. "I think that's a good idea, at least now. Though you know, I really should give you credit; you practically fixed me. I don't know if I could've gone on if you hadn't come over here, if you hadn't loved and supported me like this."  
  
Stephane's withdrawal from the rink, except for his own training, was met with a little regret from Galina, but ultimately his job was done; Johnny was better shape than he'd been in years, and, with his husband still keeping an eye on him at home, was likely to stay that way. It also made things easier for the TV crew, which had now arrived to start filming the new series, as they had to worry a lot less about editing him out; it was written in the contract that the series could not reveal the marriage.  
  
***  
  
One of Stephane's classes ended late on Friday night, and often he took the train there, and Johnny drove into the city to pick him up. Stephane was grateful for that; he disliked New York driving.  
  
By mid-September this ended up becoming Johnny's favorite time of the week, the drive alone through the New York evening, even the cameras gone, seeing Stephane come out, and how glowy and happy he always looked, hearing him babble so excitedly about things that he talked about so much Johnny was finally starting to understand them, getting home late at night tired but cheerful. Stephane also developed an odd habit of pinning Johnny to the car when they got out at the end of the drive and initiating a deep and thorough make-out session outside, in the safety of the darkness. By October when the weather started getting colder Johnny could tell that part would have to stop by November or so, but for now it was heaven. It didn't always lead to sex; sometimes Johnny or even Stephane was too tired, but other times it did, slow, gentle sex that made Johnny feel that absolutely nothing could be wrong with his world as long as he had this.  
  
The final week before Trophée Eric Bombard his class ran over, and Johnny somehow managed to park the car and go walk up and down the block. Near the end of it was a jewelry store. In the window they displayed various pieces of jewelry, including a pair of golden rings. He spent some time gazing at them, admiring their particular design, and suddenly felt a deep, hidden longing rise up within him.  
  
Stephane found him there, still staring. As he approached he was apologizing for being late, but on seeing what Johnny was looking at he fell silent. He took Johnny's hand and squeezed it, and hand in hand they walked back to the car.  
  
***  
  
Trophée Eric Bombard was not his best event. The short program was okay, even though he put a hand down on the flip. The long program was interesting. He landed the quad. Clean, fully rotated, beautiful. Then he fell twice, missing his third combo in the process, and double-footed the solo triple axel. He wasn't sure how he ended up with the silver.  
  
At the Cup of Russia he didn't try the quad. Naturally, he won. He beat Jeremy while he was at it, too.   
  
Too tired to dwell on the implications of that, but very, very happy to have won in Russia again, he flew home trying to psych himself up for the Grand Prix Finale. After all the luck he'd had at that event, and all the good medaling there last year had done him anyway, he honestly would have rather not gone. But he couldn't get away with withdrawing without a reason and he refused to fake an injury after having so many real ones. It was in Japan, he told himself, and the only place the fans were more enthusiastic than that was Korea, and he should be glad to be able to compete in front of them one last time.  
  
His short program in Tokyo was even worse than at Nationals, in that he messed the lutz up, and was unable to do the combination. To add insult to injury, it was downgraded. He went into the long program in last place.  
  
His long program was very good; he landed the quad again, and this time didn't fall down on any of the other jumps, though he did double-foot one jump that caused him to miss the third combination again. When he missed the podium by half a point, he shook his head. "At least I'm back to where I was," he commented.  
  
***  
  
After what had happened last year, Galina wasn't letting him go anywhere for Christmas, not even home to his family. It was the quietest Christmas he'd ever spent, just him and Stephane, who cooked them enough food to last them until New Year's in leftovers, and sung along with all the pop Christmas carols on the radio, which usually didn't sound too bad but there were exceptions. At one point he'd just butchered the Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping," and ended it by leaning over towards Johnny and singing horribly out of tune, "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, couldn't miss this one this year, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, couldn't miss this one this year..." until Johnny kissed him to make him shut up.  
  
For New Year's Eve Alexandra and Roman came up looking a distraction. For most of the past year the Israeli skating federation and Olympic Committee had debated whether or not to send them to Vancouver. It would probably depend, ultimately, on their results at Europeans, but when noone could agree what placement to demand of them there it put them under considerable stress.  
  
The four of them spent the last day of the year in Manhatten, Johnny and Stephane showing Alexandra and Roman things there they hadn't seen yet. In the evening they went home and Stephane cooked too much food again, though at least there were four people to eat it this time. They watched the ball drop in TV, Johnny and Stephane kissed, and Alexandra breathed, "2010," her voice full of the anticipation of what they'd all waited for this year to bring.  
  
***  
  
It wasn't the first time Johnny had been late; New York City traffic could always be a bitch. But the Friday before Nationals, he would have given anything to have gotten to Stephane before those three brutes.  
  
When he saw the men beating Stephane in front of the jewelry store, for a moment he froze, horrified, not sure what he could do. Then he saw his skates sitting on the seat next to him, their sharp blades gleaming, and knew exactly what he was going to do.  
  
He stopped the car in the middle of the road, ignoring the indignant honks of the cars behind him, and got out of the car and ran towards the men. They had Stephane on the pavement and were striking wild blows, calling him "fag" and "little girl," and didn't see him coming. The first slash of the skate blades sliced into one man's back. When he cried out all three turned around, just in time for the second to get a slash in the face. He staggered back with his face in his hands. Johnny thought he might have gotten him in the eye. He hoped he had.  
  
"Get away," he hissed. "Get. Away." He waved the bloodied skate in front of them. They fled.  
  
He dropped to the pavement. Stephane was still conscious, though so covered in blood Johnny only knew that by his feeble attempt to raise his head. "Stay awake, you've got to stay awake," Johnny said, though he had no idea if that was the case. "Come on." He lugged Stephane up and towards the car, trying to figure out where the nearest hospital was.  
  
***  
  
At first the hospital tried to kick him out, demanding proof that he was next of kin. In the end Johnny had to call Galina, glad now she had insisted on having him make her a spare key, and ask her to get the marriage certificate and bring it to the hospital. She also brought an anxious Viktor. It was also her that suggested they ought to call Stephane's family. When Johnny did so, it was to tell them that Stephane was in stable condition, but was far from out of danger.  
  
He wasn't out of danger, either, when Galina relentlessly hustled Johnny back to Wayne for practice, and after that forced him to eat before accompanying him to the hospital. Nor was he out of danger nearly a day after the attack, when she forced Johnny to go home and sleep.   
  
Before he went to sleep he prayed, on his knees, for the first time since he was a little boy.  _Let him live,_  he prayed.  _Please God, I don't care if I make the Olympics, just let Stephane live._  
  
Sunday night they flew to Nationals with the camera crew complaining that it was going to be difficult to edit around all the time Johnny had been spending at the hospital; they could show him there a little, but probably not too much. Johnny snarled at them to deal.  
  
He spent the warm-up for the short program popping the triple axel, and when he was first to skate in his group. Finally Galina beckoned him to her and said softly, "Stephane always love your triple axel. He have none, so when you are married, you jump it for both of you; what is yours is his. Jump it for him now."  
  
As his name was announced she added, "Jump it, and he vill live."  
  
He landed it. Somehow, he landed it. He finished a flawless short program and burst into tears at the end. He still finished a point behind Jeremy but he was past giving a damn.  
  
After the short program he called the hospital, and was given Stephane's doctor, who said, "Good news, Mr. Weir. We've stopped your husband's internal bleeding and he's responding well. He's still weak, but he's going to be all right."  
  
***  
  
Though he didn't watch anyone else skate, he was told it was the general opinion he should have won the silver, instead of the bronze. He didn't care. He'd made some mistakes in the long and since Stephane was doing wonderfully, he wouldn't have minded even if he'd missed the Olympics, which he hadn't. Several people reminded him of the existence of Sarah Hughes, which he supposed was all well and good, but he wasn't sure he'd care about where he'd place at the Olympics anymore. At any rate, the pressure was off. Jeremy was the great medal hope now, and Johnny just hoped he could handle the pressure, or that they weren't too harsh on him if he choked.  
  
He also heard that some of the audience members had overheard Galina when when she had mentioned his and Stephane's being married before the warm-up. He didn't care about that either; if she hadn't said that he might have popped the axel and then he would finished off the podium, and now there was nothing for it but to deal with whatever fallout followed.  
  
Stephane was released from the hospital a couple days after he returned to New Jersey, but was in two casts, and was put on bed rest for the next month, an order he didn't intend to follow.  _"Je vais à Vancouver,_  he insisted,  _"et je te regardes patiner."_

 _"Tu peux regarder sur la TV,"_  Johnny argued, but Stephane shook his head. He wanted to be there in person, he said.  
  
He hobbled through JFK with Johnny's aid and not just their own TV crew but several reporters following them around until airport security threw them out. Several of them observed he was wearing the bloodied jacket he'd been wearing when he'd been attacked. "There is something very special inside this jacket, that is lucky it survived the attack." That, Johnny decided, was one of the strangest things he'd ever heard Stephane say.  
  
***  
  
Johnny needed a distraction on the plane, and Stephane started a conversation about their future after the Olympics. They spoke quietly while Galina and Viktor slept in the seats next to them, but if anyone overheard at this point, well, it wouldn't be the first time the public was overhearing things. They talked about when Stephane was likely to return to school, and to the ice, about how much touring Johnny was likely to do for the rest of the year, about how they were going to handle going public, and about a public wedding. They went further into the future then; where they hoped to be in two more years, where they might live, where they might try to visit as often as possible, and one subject very dear to them both, what they were going to do about children.   
  
"We should go to Russia," Johnny said, "and find an orphan girl to adopt.

"I think you would like that," laughed Stephane.  "But I would too."  
  
"She would have an interesting life, though."  
  
"Interesting, yes," said Stephane. "But a good one, I hope."  
  
"An interesting life, but a good one," Johnny agreed, as Stephane wrapped a hand around his.  
  
***  
  
His short was perfect, but he was still only in fifth going into the free skate. That, Johnny supposed, was kind of sad, but it could have been worse. Two fifth places at the Olympics was very respectable, and it meant getting to skate in the gala again. And he thought he'd dealt with the worst of the hate mail already this time, once word of the marriage had got around. It still wasn't officially confirmed, but at this point it didn't have to be.  
  
He was second to go in the final flight. When he stepped backstage after the warm-up, much to his surprise, Jeff approached him; he was of course backstage as some sort of team official. "Here," he said, handing him something. "From Stephane."  
  
It was a battered and slightly bloody gray box. His breath catching, Johnny opened it to find, fortunately undamaged, one of the golden rings Stephane had found him admiring that week in October. With awe Johnny realized the box must have been in the jacket all that time, since Stephane wouldn't have had the opportunity to take it out without Johnny seeing it.  
  
With it was a note:  _Parce que j'ai payer pour ces alliances avec mon sang, nous devrons porter lui maintenant. Je porte la mien. Avec tout mon amour, Stephane._  
  
He put it on and he skated out wearing it.  
  
He landed the quad. He landed the triple axels. He landed all three combinations. He finished thinking,  _Whatever happens to me now, I have nothing to be upset about. I could not have skated any better than that._  He got a standing ovation.  
  
***  
  
He missed most of the rest of the competition. Every reporter in the arena wanted a piece of him. Most of them asked about the ring, which was strange, since there seemed to be an unspoken agreement they didn't ask about the marriage rumors, or if they did, they spoke of them in such a skeptical manner that all Johnny really had to do was shrug. Not sure what Stephane wanted at this point, Johnny said he'd tell them later, though he feared his blushing said everything.  
  
When he finally got out of the mixed zone went looking for a screen to watch on, he was joined by a very happy Galina, who informed him that he was locked for a medal, and furthermore, Patrick Chan had just finished up and was probably going to come in behind him and leave him in first with only Brian still to skate.  
  
They ended up at the edge of the kiss and cry area just as Patrick and his coach walked backstage, looking deeply disappointed. "Four years," Johnny tried to whisper to him as comfort, but he wasn't sure if he heard.  
  
He watched Brian land all three of his quads. He watched him cover the ice with speed and power. It was fine, he told himself. After one Olympics of going down from second to fifth, another one of going up from fifth to second was good indeed. He thought of how happy Stephane had been to win the silver in Torino, and how pretty their medals might look laid next to each other.  
  
When Brian fell, at first Johnny thought,  _It can't possibly make a difference at this point; he's done too much._  Then he didn't get up, and the music stopped. He watched, shocked, as Brian got up and stumbled towards his coach by the gate.  
  
For a minute and a half they and French officials talked. At one point Brian stepped off the ice and a doctor prodded at his hip while he grimaced in pain. "If he were anyone else he would've given up by now," Johnny commented softly.   
  
Everyone held their breath even when Brian spoke to the referee and skated back out; he might just be taking his final bows, Johnny knew. But then his music resumed and he continued skating.  
  
He had two jumping passes, one step sequence, and one spin remaining. The jumps were doubles, the spin and steps probably only about level one, but Brian did them all. He finished to a standing ovation, bowed, and limped off the ice.  
  
There was fierce applause, too, when his scores proved just enough for bronze. Johnny clapped with everyone else, as he let it slowly sink in that he'd won the gold.  
  
***  
  
Though barely able to still skate, Brian was unquestionably the star of medal ceremony. Watching him limp onto the podium, looking as proud as Johnny had ever seen him, Johnny decided he didn't mind. There was no denying he deserved it.  
  
But as Oda skated out as the silver medalist, crying his eyes out already, Johnny started to feel nervous. He noted at Nationals, particularly during the gala, a certain reserve from the audience in response to him. He'd been told there was hate mail from former fans, though he himself hadn't seen any of it. There was one price to his marriage, he knew, that he hadn't really considered the implications of having to pay. He had decided the scores weren't worth holding back from it anymore, and what the average joe on the street thought about him had never mattered. But what those who loved the sport, supposedly loved him even, thought, well, he was about to learn whether that really could hurt or not.  
  
There were some jeers when his name was announced, but he thought they only caused the cheers to get louder; there were people screaming at the top of their lungs.  
  
The faces down on the ice were all smiles, and all a blur; the only concrete thing was the gold medal placed around his neck, lying against his costume, pressed under his arm as he laid his hand over his heart for the anthem.  
  
Brian didn't really do the victory lap; he stayed on the ice only for photographs before heading for the boards with a few blown kisses, though he stayed there a while, with his mother helping him stand up as he shook hands and signed autographs. Johnny and Oda skated alone. Their mothers reached the boards at about the same time and place and almost bumped into each other; they laughed, shook hands, and when Patti accidentally hugged Oda his mother made up for it by hugging Johnny, leaving both men with two hugs and Oda in hysterics. Johnny moved to greet his father and brother, and then, right behind them, he saw Stephane making his way to the boards.  
  
This, he thought, was the best part of winning yet, throwing an arm around Stephane, seeing his smile, and then kissing him, right in front of about a thousand people plus whoever was still watching on TV, because now he could, and he loved it.


End file.
